Her name was Marilyn Maxwell. And in typical Bob Hope fashion — he starred opposite the sexiest leading ladies of the day — blonde Maxwell was one of his costars. Let’s — as this blog will — concentrate on Maxwell. Many stars of her period certainly did notably including Rock Hudson. What, you ask? Wasn’t Hudson, […]
In 1956, Rock Hudson made three movies, one of which was Giant with costars Elizabeth Taylor and, the by-now iconic, James Dean, an actor we’ve written about extensively. Who was the better actor in director George Stevens’ sweeping western saga based on Edna Ferber’s novel about life on a Texas cattle ranch? Was it Hudson as rancher […]
Today most people remember Rock Hudson as the first famous person to be associated with AIDS. When he appeared on TV and in photos as a wan, dissipated, hollow version of his former self the world was alerted to the deadly disease. Books could be, and have been, written about those times. But now, after […]
As mentioned yesterday, we believe that Rock Hudson — the first A-list Hollywood star to succumb of AIDS — was often an underestimated actor whose performances quietly buoyed many pictures. Hudson’s career spanned almost four decades beginning in 1948 when the big Hollywood studios ruled. Later, in the Seventies, he was a big name television star in […]
We’re doing something unusual this time — devoting the upcoming week entirely to one actor. We’ll start off with our usual Monday Quiz followed by assessments of relevant films and wind up with a general career assessment from Joe. We believe that Rock Hudson — the first A-list Hollywood star to succumb of AIDS — […]
Take a good long look at the photo today. You may not know it but you are peering at a pair of “million dollar legs.” They belonged to one Elizabeth Ruth Grable, born in St. Louis in 1916. No kidding. That’s what Betty Grable’s gams were said to be worth to her employer, […]
It was voted best picture of 1963. Five of it’s leading actors were Oscar nominated. Its director and its screenplay won Oscars. And yet….. It’s largely overlooked today. The august British Film Institute named Tom Jones as the 51st greatest British film of the 20th century. But that strikes us as faint praise. We suspect […]
Scotty Bowers, a World War II Marine Corps vet who parlayed a filling station job into a secret purveyor of sexual services to some of Hollywood’s biggest classic movie names, died Oct. 13. He is the subject of the 2017 documentary, Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood. His secrets did not die with him. As […]
How much did you know about the legendary producer? We’re talking here about David O. Selznick, perhaps the most productive and fascinating film producer to come out of the classic movie era. Definitely the pipe-smoking type, he’s pictured above with his second wife, actress Jennifer Jones, easily the love of his life. She left her first […]
We’ve had quizzes about stars, about films, and last week about directors, so we thought why not a quiz about Hollywood producers. And why not start off with filmdom’s most famous producer David O. Selznick? He was, of course, the driving force propelling Gone With The Wind to the screens in 1939. While Hollywood’s most […]